Several states won't adopt revised unified MMA rules over safety concerns

Apparently, the word "unified" doesn't mean what it used to.

In August, the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC) voted to make several changes to the unified rules of MMA, including clarification of what constitutes a "grounded" fighter, the standardization of gear for female fighters to prevent wardrobe mishaps, and new precautions to decrease the amount of eye pokes.

Those changes are expected to become official Jan. 1, 2017, but because the ABC isn't a federal organization, individual state commissions are under no obligation to implement the revised unified rules. States that will be making only partial adjustments to their guidelines for now include Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas, and Virginia, according to MMA Fighting's Marc Raimondi.

That means promotions and their fighters will have to keep track of each commission's set of rules when the time comes to book fights in the respective states.

Representatives from Maryland, New Jersey, and Ohio all expressed concern over a lack of medical consideration in the changes. Because a grounded fighter must now have their palms or fists flat on the mat as opposed to just a single finger, there's the potential for more knee strikes to be delivered to the head.

"You have every other sport becoming more conservative about strikes to the head," said Nick Lembo of the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board. "Instead, we're going the other way."

Some of the withholding commissions could still follow along in 2017. Texas isn't expected to vote on the new rules until March, while Nevada Athletic Commissioner executive director Bob Bennett said that the NAC is considering a vote in January.